Potted film reviews by Gary Anthony Cross

The Italian Job (2003)

After the successful heist of a safe full of gold bullion, Charlie Croker and his crew are double-crossed and left for dead leaving them swearing revenge on their ex-comrade.

So this is The Italian Job? Marky Mark and a posse of Americans driving German-made minis through Los Angeles? The Italian Job?! Well, now that’s out of my system, what we obviously have here is a bunch of Hollywood studio executives looking at the success of Ocean’s Eleven and saying to themselves “I want a piece of that action!”. In fact it is far more a remake of Steven Soderbergh’s movie than the original The Italian Job, with the inevitable mix of nicknamed, wise-cracking stereotypes planning a robbery in the usual Hollywood style. It’s all very familiar and generic and the presence of Charlize Theron as the token love interest and Ed Norton as the moustache twirling villain just serve to remind you that they are above this kind of thing. Even the car chase is an anti-climax.

As a whole The Italian Job is not terrible, but it’s a bit like ordering a full English Sunday roast with all the trimmings and instead getting a corn dog.